Closing of Oak Forest Hospital ‘criminal,’ Rep. Flowers says

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

State Rep. Mary Flowers (D-Chicago) calls a plan to close Oak Forest Hospital “criminal” and accuses Cook County of collecting taxes under “false pretenses” from Southland residents.

“The county said it was collecting money for health and public welfare, but it obviously doesn’t care about the health or welfare of people in the south suburbs if they’re going to close Oak Forest Hospital,” said Flowers, chairman of the House Health Care Availability and Access Committee, speaking by phone from Springfield.

Earlier Tuesday, about 60 religious leaders, representatives of organized labor, nurses and patients gathered at the entrance of Oak Forest Hospital to protest its closing.

“You can say I’m a frequent flyer here,” said Sandy Kelm, 61, of Harvey, who was leaning on a walker as oxygen tubes ran from a pack on her waist to her nose. “I have no insurance, and the doctors here are willing to help me.”

A state board has refused Cook County’s request to close the hospital, but legislation is pending in Springfield that would exempt the county’s health care system from the board’s oversight, effective immediately.

Cook County has said it wants to close Oak Forest’s emergency room and inpatient treatment unit next Wednesday, June 1.

Cynthia Phillips, 55, who has been a patient at Oak Forest for 10 years, rolled to the news conference in a wheelchair.

“We are one of the richest countries in the world,” Phillips told the crowd, “but we treat people like we are one of the poorest nations in the world.”

“How are we going to get to Stroger Hospital?” Phillips asked me. “No way for me to get there.”

The Rev. Gregory Seal Livingston, of Mission of Faith Baptist Church in Chicago, led the crowd in several energetic chants. Claiming that Cook County Democrats were acting “more like Republicans” by talking about saving tax money instead of helping the poor, Livingston repeatedly shouted, “health care ‘Yes,’ wealth care ‘No.’”

Livingston recalled bringing his mother to Oak Forest Hospital when she was very ill.

“She would have died on the way if we had taken her to Stroger,” he said. “Thankfully, because of this hospital, I was able to spend a few more days with her before she passed.”

Betty Boles, vice president of Service Employees International Union Local 73, questioned the county’s plan to replace the 24-hour ER at Oak Forest with an intermediate care center that would be open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.

“Do you plan when you’re going to be sick?” Boles asked the crowd. “Don’t poor people get sick after 11 p.m.?”

Amendments to the bill that would remove Cook County hospitals from state oversight, sponsored by state Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago), are expected to come before the House Executive Committee today.

“I will oppose it, and I have told my colleagues to oppose it,” Flowers said. “I think what Rep. Currie is doing is appalling, and I think what Cook County is trying to do is appalling.

“We have a state board that is empowered to make sure health care is equitably distributed throughout the state, and because it did its job and said Oak Forest should not be closed they want to remove Cook County from its oversight.

“The closing of Oak Forest Hospital jeopardizes the health care not only of the poor but of those with health insurance as well,” she said. “The state health facilities board got it right.

“Hospital emergency rooms throughout the south suburbs are already full. When you force the uninsured to use them for primary care by closing Oak Forest, you put everyone’s health care in jeopardy.

“It’s criminal in my opinion. You should not be able to collect taxes under the pretense of providing this service and then deny it to an entire section of the county,” Flowers said. “And I will do everything in my power to stop it from happening.”